Alberto Cañada Zarranz, of the Film Library of Navarre gave a lecture on October 22 at the Palacio del Condestable in Pamplona, lecture "St. Teresa in the cinema", which is part of the cycle organized by the Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art organized on the occasion of the V Centenary of her birth.

The speaker reviewed all the Spanish film productions dedicated to the Saint. He stopped at the popularly known series TVE starring Concha Velasco, and directed by Josefina Molina. Carmen Martín Gaite wrote the dialogues. It premiered in 1986 and is one of the best series ever made in the history of the public broadcaster. Alberto Cañada explained that the director wanted the same actress to play the different ages of St. Teresa and said that his work -validated by his physical and dramatic gifts- is so good that "Concha Velasco could have been St. Teresa of Jesus and vice versa".

Other productions prior to this one date from 1926, by Francisco and Arturo Berengola, of which barely 200 meters of film remain. In 1958 "Teresa de Ávila" was made, by Joaquín Hualde and José López Clemente; no copy is preserved. In 1961 is released the film directed by Juan de Orduña and starring Aurora Bautista, who plays a very intense acting exercise. In 1964 "Teresa para la eternidad" was premiered.

In addition to "Ávila mística de santa Teresa" (1967) and "Teresa de Jesús" (1973), in 1982 César Fernández made a series of six six-minute films. "Teresa, Teresa" is from 2003 and "Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo", directed by Ray Loriga, from 2007. "If we can see something in common in all these films is the passion that transmits the character of St. Teresa," said Alberto Cañada.

Compilation of fragments from the cinema of the no-do

The saint of Avila was also treated in color documentaries, which were projected in theaters as parts of the no-do (Noticiarios-Documentaries). Thus, in 1974 Joaquín Hualde directed "Ávila de Santa Teresa".

Other newsreels produced on the occasion of the feast of St. Teresa are also preserved: that of 1943, in which 450 new members of the Falange are sworn in on the occasion of the feast of its patron saint; in 1959, in which the devotion to the Saint in Spain is sample ; in 1960, in 1963, in which 6000 women meet in Avila on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the reform. In 1970, from the Vatican, the Mass for the proclamation of St. Teresa as the first universal doctor of the Church was celebrated.

St. Teresa, in short, "has not only been the protagonist of films, but has been one of the figures in history that has left its mark on the cinema," concluded Cañada.